Disposable brassiere



A ril 21, 1970 M. R. WILLIAMS 3, 07,

DISPOSABLE BRASSIERE Filed March 4. 1 968 3 Sheets-Sheet x INVENTOR.

April 1 0 M. R. WILLIAMS I 3,507,285

DISPOSABLE BRASSIERE Filed March 4, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent O ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A disposable brassiere formed from thin, flexible sheet material, such as paper, compressed wood pulp, woven or non-woven natural or synthetic fibers or the like. The brassiere includes two substantially identical half sections; each section comprising integral shoulder strap portions, a rear, a side, and a front portion. The front portion of each section is provided with a cup of adjustable size resulting from cooperating vertical and horizontal darts. The two sections are overlapped and joined together at the rear and at the front. One form of front fastening includes two spaced snap fasteners, one of which can be opened to permit exposure of either of the wearers breasts for feeding.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to brassieres and is more particularly directed to a disposable brassiere formed of provide a disposable brassiere which is formed from an wood pulp, woven or non-woven natural or synthetic fibers or the like.

At the present time, there is a substantial need for a satisfactory disposable brassiere. One desideratum of such a brassiere is that it be formed from relatively inexpensive material, and in such a way that its cost can be kept low enough to justify discarding the brassiere after it has been worn a short time, for example a day or two, or perhaps, in some cases, as long as a week. Secondly, the brassiere should have an attractive appearance, particularly with regard to the formation of breastreceiving cups. Disposable brassieres of this type are particularly advantageous for use in hospitals, nursing homes and the like, although they can also be used advantageously by housewives or others.

In the past, there have been proposals for producing brassieres from paper or thin cloth materials. These garments have not, however, met with any appreciable acceptance for a number of reasons. In the first place, most of these brassieres did not provide a cup-like configuration which was aesthetically pleasing. Other brassieres formed of thin material utilized expensive fabrication techniques, including special liners, reinforcing bands, moulding, complex stitching or the like. As a result, the relatively high cost of producing these brassieres offset the advantage of the material so that the brassieres were much too expensive to be disposable.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a disposable brassiere which is formed from an economical material, such as paper, using simple, inexpensive production techniques. The present brassiere is formed from two substantially identical die cut sections which are overlapped and secured together at the front and rear by any suitable means, such as gluing, snap fasteners or the like. The present brassiere requires no additional lining or reinforcing material; nor does it require any extensive sewing or moulding operations. Thus, the total cost of the present brassiere is quite small so that the brassiere can be worn for a very limited period, for example a day or two, and then discarded.

At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide a brassiere which provides a pleasing cup shape which would normally be associated with a considerably more expensive product. In accordance with the present invention, this cup shape is defined by two cooperating tapered darts. On dart extends in a generally horizontal plane inwardly from the arm opening to the center portion of the front panel of the brassiere, while the other tapered dart extends generally vertically from the lower edge of the brassiere toward the center portion of the front panel. The folds of the darts are joined only along the marginal edges of the garment. The combination of darts not only imparts a cup shape to the brassiere, but also provides another important advantage, i.e. the cups can expand so that one brassiere can fit wearers having a variety of bust sizes.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a brassiere which is particularly useful for breast feeding. More particularly, in accordance with the present invention, the front portions of the two brassiere halves overlap and are joined by two spaced fasteners respectively positioned adjacent to the lower corners of the two respective front panels. Either of the wearers breasts can be selectively exposed by opening one or the other of the fasteners and sliding one of the panels downwardly. The other fastener remains engaged, however, to hold the brassiere in place upon the wearer.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of a preferred form of brassiere of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the brassiere.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a front perspective view generally similar to FIGURE 1, with one flap of the brassiere unfastened.

FIGURE 6 is an elevational view of a pattern forming one half of the brassiere shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 is a rear perspective view of a modified form of brassiere.

As best shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5, a brassiere 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention is formed from two half sections 11 and 12 joined together and configurated to encircle the upper torso of the wearer. The half sections 11 and 12 are preferably formed of a disposable, lightweight sheet material such as paper, compressed wood pulp, non-woven or woven synthetic or natural fibers. The marginal edges of these sections are preferably seamed by overturning a narrow band which is then glued, sewn or fused to the adjacent layer. However, the material may be left in a raw edge state if the material has suflicient strength.

Each half section 11 and 12 includes integral strap portions 13 and 14 (shown on the pattern of FIGURE 6) which are joined together in any suitable manner, such as by gluing, heat sealing, sewing or the like, to form a loop 15. This loop, or shoulder strap, fits over the wearers shoulder in a conventional manner.

In addition to the strap portions, each half section 11 and 12 includes a side encircling portion 16, a rear panel portion 17 and a front portion 18. This front panel section 18 is provided with two inwardly folded darts 20 and 21 which together define a breast cup portion 22. More particularly, dart 20 is a horizontal dart extending from the mid portion of the forward edge of arm opening 23 to the central portion of front panel 18.

Dart 21 is a generally vertical dart extending from the lowermost edge 24 of the front panel and angulating upwardly and outwardly (i.e. toward the wearers side) into close proximity with the end 26 of horizontal dart 20. Each of the darts is formed by folding a V-shaped section 27-28 of the material inwardly. Thefolds of the material are adhered together only at the endwise portions of the darts 20 and 21 adjacent to arm opening 23 and bottom edge 24, respectively. As a result, the two darts in combination provide a double function.

In the first place, they give a pleasing hollow cup-like cofiguration to the brassiere, even though the brassiere is originally formed from a fiat, thin, highly flexible sheet of material. In the second place, the darts provide room for expansion of the cup size so that one brassiere can be used to fit wearers of substantially different bust sizes.

As is shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, the two brassiere sections 11 and 12 overlap one another at both front and rear. The rear overlapping sections are joined together in any suitable manner, such as by gluing or by means of an elongated double-faced adhesive strip 32 (FIGURE disposed between the overlapped rear panel sections of the brassiere halves. Alternatively, the rear panel sections could be joined by means of snap fasteners if desired.

The front portions of the brassiere sections 11 and 12 also overlap at the center portion of the brassiere. In the brassiere shown in FIGURE 1, the front portions are joined together by means of two spaced snaps 33 and 34. Each snap includes a male half secured to the innermost panel, i.e. the panel of section 12, and a cooperating female portion opening inwardly from the outermost panel section. Snaps 33 and 34 are disposed closely adjacent to lower edge 24 with snap 33 being positioned in the lowermost corner 35 of front panel section 18. Similarly, the male half of snap 34 is secured to the lowermost corner section of panel 12. This construction greatly facilitates the use of the present brassiere for nursing purposes.

More particularly, as is shown in FIGURE 5, the wearer can expose her left breast by unfastening snap 33 and sliding the left panel section 18 downwardly and outwardly. Snap fastener 34 remains closed to hold the other portions of the brassiere in position. Alternatively, the wearer can expose her right breast by leaving snap fastening 33 secured and unfastening snap 34. This permits the right panel section 18 to be shifted downwardly and outwardly, permitting the right breast to be exposed.

The pat-tern 36 for forming one section 11 of the brassiere is shown in FIGURE 6. It will be understood that the pattern for forming the right section 12 is substantially a mirror image of the pattern 36. It will also be understood that when the brassieres are cut out, one pattern is inverted with respect to the other with a strap section of one pattern being locked in the shoulder loop opening of the opposite pattern. As a result, the present brassieres can be fabricated with a minimum waste of material.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the pattern 36 is a flat pattern in which the lower edge 24 of the garment is defined by two concave arcuate segments 37 and 38 meeting at an apex 40 beneath the forward strap section 13. The inwardly extending center fold 41 of dart 21 extends to this apex. The dart is completed by securing the outer edge portion 29 over edge portion 39 with fold line 49 overlying line 59. The left-hand edge of the pattern, which defines a sloping front edge 42 of the panel section 18, is also curved and includes an outwardly extending triangular tongue section 43 Which is folded rearwardly along fold line 44 to provide a double layered corner on the flap portion.

It is to be understood that corner 56 of triangular tongue 43 is secured to the adjacent layer of cloth material along the edge seams in any suitable manner, such as by means of suitable adhesive, stitching or the like. The arm cutout portion 23 on the inside of the two strap sections 13 and 14 is generally U-shaped, but is provided with an inwardly extending apex 45. The material is folded outwardly along a line 46 which runs from this apex toward the center of front flap section 18. A center fold line 47 runs from the inner end 26 of fold line 46 to a point on the inner edge of opening 23 below apex 45. The dart 20 is formed by folding the dart along center line 47 until fold line 46 overlies line 48, the overlapped layers of material being secured in any suitable manner only along edge 23.

From the above disclosure of the general principles of the present invention and the foregoing description of one preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will radily comprehend various modifications to which the invention is susceptible. For example, FIGURE 7 shows a modified form of brassiere in which the rear portions 50 and 51 of the two brassiere halves are not secured together by snap fasteners, but rather are tied together by means of a single flexible loop 52 which passes through eyelets 53 and 54formed in the two brassiere halves with the open ends of the loop being tied together as at 55. This arrangement provides for substantial adjustment in the size of the brassiere so that, for example, one brassiere would fit sizes from 34 to 40.

It will be understood that a similar lacing arrangement can be utilized to join the two strap sections 13 and 14 together if desired. It is further contemplated that other types of separable fastening, such as cooperable strips of Velcro tape, could be utilized to adjustably hold the overlapped portions together if desired.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A disposable brassiere comprising two substantially identical sections each formed from a flexible sheet material, each section comprising a front panel, an integral shoulder strap defining an arm opening, a rear panel and a side portion, said front, side and rear portions terminating in a generally horizontal lower edge, said front portion having two substantially triangular darts formed therein, one dart extending generally horizontally from said arm opening to the center portion of said front panel, a second dart extending in a generally vertical direction upwardly from the lower edge toward the center portion of said front panel, said darts giving said front panel a cup-like configuration, said sections overlapping one another at their front and rear portions, means securing the rear portions of said panels together, and means releasably securing the front panels together.

2. The disposable brassiere of claim 1 in which the folds of said darts are secured together only adjacent to the marginal portions of said darts.

3. The disposable brassiere of claim 1 in which the means securing said rear portions together comprise apertures formed in the rear panels of each of said sections and an adjustable loop passing through each of said apertures, whereby the brassiere can be fit to varied body sizes.

4. The disposable brassiere of claim 1 in which the means releasably securing the front sections together comprise two horizontally spaced snap fasteners.

5. The disposable brassiere of claim 4 in which the front panels of each of said brassiere sections taper downwardly to a lower corner and in which said snap fasteners are disposed closely adjacent to the lower edge of said brassiere sections, one portion of each of said snap fasteners being disposed adjacent to the corner of one of said sections.

6. A disposable brassiere comprising two substantially identical sections, each section being formed from a flexible sheet material, the sheet material forming each section originally being configurated to form a lower edge constituted by two concave arcs meeting at a first apex, said sections also including first and second integral strap portions having a generally U-shaped cutout therebetween, the U-shaped cutout having a second inwardly facing apex, each said section including a side portion disposed intermediate the convex bottom edge and the U-shaped cutout, a rear portion disposed above the bottom portion on the side of said first strap portion remote from the U-shaped cutout, and a front portion disposed intermediate the first apex and the second shoulder strap, means securing the ends of said two shoulder strap portions together to form a single closed loop, means forming a first dart extending inwardly from said first apex and a second dart extending inwardly from said second apex toward the center section of said front panel.

7. The disposable brassiere of claim 6 in which said darts are triangular with the overfolded layers forming said dart being secured only adjacent to the edges of said section.

8. The disposable brassiere of claim 7 in which the dart extending inwardly from the first apex has an inwardly extending fold having a center line intersecting said apex.

9. The disposable brassiere of claim 7 in which the dart extending inwardly from said second apex has an outwardly extending fold line intersecting said apex and an inwardly extending fold line disposed below said apex.

10. The disposable brassiere of claim '7 in which the dart extending inwardly from the first apex has an inwardly extending fold having a center line intersecting said first apex, and the dart extending inwardly from said second apex has an outwardly extending fold line intersecting said second apex and an inwardly extending fold line disposed below said second apex.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,441 7/1925 Newman et a1 l28-429 2,869,553 l/1959 DOr 1285l6 3,430,632 3/1969 James et al 128-425 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 128460, 517 

